It had been at least a month since we last hike as we’ve been very busy so we felt the need to get out and stretch the legs on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Rancho San Antonio is by far the closest hiking to us worth mentioning so we decided to zip over there and get in a short loop hike before dinner. Our preferred loop is a bit longer (~8 miles) that goes up the PG&E trail which roughly follows the power poles and then loop back down on an adjoining ridge. We were short for time so we decided to shorten our hike as well.
This loop initially follows the PG&E trail but not very far into the hike there is a cutoff for the Wildcat Canyon. This takes you off the PG&E fire road and down into Wildcat Canyon. It’s very well shaded in the canyon and on a hot day I would definitely recommend avoiding the PG&E trail and coming down into the lush shade of Wildcat Canyon. The trail gently gains altitude following the creek in the canyon before rapidly gaining elevation through a series of switchbacks and gaining access to a ridge with sweeping views of the South Bay. Over time we’ve learned to avoid the farm at the bottom of trail and opt for the farm bypass to avoid the smell of the animals. We zipped through this hike in 2.5hrs so its a great short hike to sneak in before dinner.
Directions: Map to park
Distance: 6.6 miles
Vertical: 1800 feet